When the Rain Falls
by SarahKathryn
Summary: A woman is killed and there are no suspects, only a stubborn witness. Then one of their own is gunned down.
1. Chapter I

Title: When the Rain Falls

Author: Sadie

Summary: A woman is dead and there are no suspects. Then one of their own is gunnGreen down as well.

A/N: This is my first L&O story. I don't know the characters real well because I can't find a decent L&O website and the show doesn't describe their personal lives much.

Also, I've never been to New York so the street names might not make sense. And despite what the show does, I don't intend to use their last names first except in the case of Briscoe and Green, it just makes more sense that way. I still don't know Eames' first name on L&O CI because of it.

If you haven't read Dead Line, the new L&O novel, read it! It is really good!

Disclaimer: Law & Order is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Network Television. In other words, it doesn't belong to me which I'm sure you already guessGreen because if it did, I probably would not be writing fanfiction.

The woman's body lay in the alleyway between two apartment buildings. The body had two gunshot wounds, one in the left shoulder and the fatal wound blossomed in crimson blood on her upper chest.

"Victim's name is Charlotte East, thirty three years old, accountant at Patriot Accounting, lives on 61st street, no boyfriend that we know of." Lennie Briscoe told his partner, Ed Green.

"Okay," Green replied, writing it down in his little notebook. "Any witnesses, suspect description, anything?"

"Yup. That kid over there," Briscoe pointed to a boy about seventeen or so,"heard the shots, saw her go down, but didn't see the perp."

"Huh, that so?" Green spoke again. "Okay, so where was the kid standing? Did he tell you that?"

"No, but we're taking him down to the station for more questions. I know that kid knows more then he's tellin' us."

"Let's see, says here your name is Peter Simeon, you're seventeen years old, senior at JFK High Scool, you have a job at a burger joint, what else do we need to know about you?" Briscoe began the interrogation.

"You don't. Look, I thought you just wanted to know what I saw." The tall teenager had stringy shoulder length hair, four earrings in his left ear, and wore Goth-like clothes.

"We do. That's why you're gonna quit the smart aleck attitude and give us what we want or we lock you up til you do." Green said.

"Jeez, man, you don't have to threaten me." Green's words seemed to have put some fear into Peter's eyes, and some respect into his attitude.

"Good. Then it'll be much easier for both you and us. Now, can you tell us exactly what you saw earlier this evening? And don't leave anything out."

"I won't, I won't." Peter seemed to be thinking of what he should say when he quit talking.

"Hey, you gonna talk or not? We can still arrange for you to stay in custody if you wanna be silent." Briscoe told the kid.

"I want a lawyer."

Peter's words seemed to shock the two men. "Why do you need a lawyer? You're not a suspect, just a witness." a very surprised Briscoe asked.

"Not safe to say anything without one."

"Sounds to me like you've watched too many crime shows." Green muttered as he and Briscoe stepped out of the interrogation room.

"Yeah, really. There is something more to this, _much _more, then the punk is telling us." Briscoe answered. "Let's go back to the street where the body was found, see if anyone else saw or heard anything."

" 'kay, let's go." The two men headed down the hallway toward the elevator, stopping briefly at Lt. van Buren's office to tell her that Peter Simeon wanted a lawyer.

The brisk spring air blew against the two detectives as they walked down 61st street. "Here's what we know so far, that the victim is named Charlotte East, the C.O.D. was a gunshot wound to the upper left chest and we have a witness who is also a potential suspect in custody." Green read from his notes. "Not much to go on."

"Okay, well, it's a start at least." Briscoe pulled his black coat tighter around himself. "Here's where the body was found. Did the M.E. tell us how long ago she was killed?"

"Hmm, let me see." Green flipped through his notebook. "Yeah, here it is. She died between four and eight hours ago."

"Okay, so she laid here, in a public alleyway for four to eight hours and no one noticed? Something's off with that."

"Yeah, I agree with that. Maybe someone in one of these buildings saw something or heard her scream or something. After all, these are twelve story buildings with at least 200 people in each building, you can't tell me no one heard anything or saw anything." Green said.

"People only see and hear what they want to see and hear, Green. Haven't you learned that?" With that, the two men went into the first building to begin their questioning.

"This is not my day," Serena Southerlyn thought as she packed her leather tote with files and loose papers to take home to her apartment. It really hadn't been a good day, starting out with the pouring down rain in the morning, missing the subway so she was late to work which made her boss, Jack McCoy, rather unhappy because it made the both of them late for court, and then to top the cake, they lost the case and the murderer they had been prosecuting was now free to roam the streets as he pleased. She looked at her watch and sighed. She had just missed the subway again.

"Hey, Jack, do you..," Serena peeked into Jack's office hoping to see him there, still working at his desk, so she could borrow the money for a cab. But he wasn't there. "And of course I forgot my wallet, what else could go wrong today?" she said silently to herself.

She walked down the hall, toward the elevator, then inwardly groaned as she read the sign on the elevator door, "Out of Order". Sighing, Serena headed for the stairwell, "After all, the _stairs_ can't be out of order," she thought wryly.

Once downstairs in the main lobby, she went out the big double doors that graced the front of One Hogan Place, into the brisk spring air that seemed even colder now that darkness was falling over the city and it was raining lightly as she walked quickly down the street northward to her apartment building. Unfortunely her building was eleven blocks away which seemed like eleven miles by the time Serena got to the ninth block.

She shivered in the cold air. "Must be at least twenty five, thirty degrees." she thought, instinctly pulling her heavy black peacoat tighter.

A loud bang sounded out in the cold air and caused her to drop her leather tote. "Dang, dang, dang," she said as she knelt to pick up the papers that had fallen out of it. Another bang caused her to grip her left shoulder in pain. She pulled her fingers away and gasped as she saw the blood on them. As she was trying to move farther away from the street another gunshot rang out, this time hitting her left upper arm.

Crying and confused, Serena saw a blurry figure fleeing across the street. She struggled through the pain to look as closely as she could at the fleeing figure as she logically knew it would be important later.

"Hey, Briscoe! We got a call over at 42nd, another woman gunned down. No word on her condition." Green called out to Briscoe, who was at the other end of the hallway. They had made it through all twelve floors of the first building and were now on the fourth floor of the second.

"Does she have a name?" Briscoe joined his partner.

"I wasn't given one. Only that we had to get our butts over there as fast as possible."

"Good thing we've got a car tonight then." Briscoe said. He liked to drive through the city at night even though he'd lived in NYC all his life.

"Nineteen streets don't seem far until you're in a hurry." Briscoe exclaimed, as he tried to maneveur the car through the never ending traffic.

"Yeah, you're tellin' me," was Green's quick answer.

Arriving at the crime scene, the two men were startled to recognize the victim. "Hey, isn't that ADA Southerlyn?" Green asked, quietly, looking at the young blond woman on the bright orange gurney. She was surrounded by EMTs who were rushing to stop the bleeding before she lost her life.

"Believe so." Briscoe answered. "One of our own has been hurt. Now it means war.

So, what do y'all think? Is it worth continuing or should I trash it? Actually, since I don't have a very good track record of finishing stories, just starting them, don't answer that. Please read and review and tell me the truth about the story, nicely please! Sadie


	2. Chapter II

Title: When the Rain Falls

Author: Sadie

Summary: A woman is dead and there are no suspects. Then one of their own is gunned down as well.

A/N: This is my first L&O story. I don't know the characters real well because I can't find a decent L&O website and the show doesn't describe their personal lives much.

Also, I've never been to New York so the street names might not make sense. And despite what the show does, I don't intend to use their last names first except in the case of Briscoe and Green, it just makes more sense that way. I still don't know Eames' first name on L&O CI because of it.

If you haven't read Dead Line, the new L&O novel, read it! It is really good!

Disclaimer: Law & Order is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Network Television. In other words, it doesn't belong to me which I'm sure you already guessed because if it did, I probably would not be writing fanfiction.

wandering shadow- Thanks so much! I'll try not to give up too soon on this one!

Animaltalker- Thanks, I did find one!

Kelly - If you don't like the story don't read it. I didn't kill Serena and I don't intend to.

Jennifer - I know Serena isn't really "one of their own", but since they sort of work together I did it anyway. Besides, I thought it would be interesting to write how they react to having "one of their own" affected by a murderer. I was kinda writing quickly so that's the reason for the cheezy ending. That and too many crime shows/books :).

Chapter Two

Busily working over the paperwork he had brought home from the office, Jack McCoy was startled to hear the phone ring. "Hello?" he said when he picked it up.

"My name is Samantha Rodriguez. I'm a nurse at New York Memorial. Do you know a Serena Southerlyn?" A woman's voice answered.

"Dear God. Has something happened?" Jack exclaimed. He wasn't very close to Serena but still, getting a phone call in the middle of the night asking if you knew someone was enough to shock anyone.

"She came in about three hours ago, with two gunshot wounds. I found a card in her purse with your name on it, and it's my job to notify the emergency contacts."

"I'm her boss, not next of kin. I don't know her parents' number." Come to think of it, he didn't even know if Serena _had_ parents that were still alive.

"Well, you could still come down if you wanted, it might be nice for her to see a familiar face when she comes out of surgery." Samantha persisted.

The nurse had a point. Jack sighed. "I'll come down as soon as possible. Tell her that if she wakes up before I get there." He hung the phone up.

Peter Simeon still sat in the interrogation room at the police station. While the police now knew he wasn't the shooter, they hadn't yet got the full story out of him.

Lt. Anita van Buren walked into the interrogation room. "Listen to me, all right? I know, and you know, that you are not the shooter. I know that because someone else was shot while you were in custody. What I don't know is what you saw during the murder of Charlotte East. You need to tell me before the killer strikes again and kills a third woman." The police had decided it would be best to keep Serena Southerlyn's name and the fact she was alive out of the press so the killer didn't come after her again, for whatever reason he had gone after her in the first place.

"I want a lawyer." Peter's sullen voice answered.

"Why? Why in the name of heaven does a _witness_ need a lawyer unless he is guilty of something?" van Buren had had enough with the sullen Goth teenager.

"Because of what I saw. That's why." For the first time, Peter looked like who he really was, just a scared teenager who had witnessed a terrible crime. "Because I don't want to be blamed for something I didn't do."

"Okay. Well, it's 1:00 in the morning and you might have to wait a few hours for a lawyer. If you had been cooperative five hours ago when they brought you in, we'd have had a better chance of getting a lawyer right away." van Buren really didn't think this kid was guilty but if he was, he sure was putting on a quite a show.

"No! If you guys had cooperated with me five hours ago I could be at home already!" Peter stood up, knocking his chair over. "My dad is gonna sue you guys for this!"

"He'll do nothing of the sort. We've already spoken to your father, he told us to deal with you however we saw fit even if meant putting you in a jail cell for the night. In fact, your father's exact words to me were, and I quote, "Put him in a cell if you need to.". van Buren explained.

Peter sighed and sat down again. "Get me my lawyer and I'll talk."

"Although serious, the wounds inflicted on Miss Southerlyn are not life threatening. She will be all right." A doctor by the name of Sheryl Brass explained to Jack as they walked through a hallway in the hospital. "She will need some physical therapy but other then that, it'll be like it never happened."

"Except she'll always remember." Jack did know something about Serena, she had an awfully good memory and probably wasn't going to forget this night anytime soon.

"Yeah. Other then that. Now, she just came out of surgery and ordinarily I wouldn't allow anyone but family inside her room right now..."

Jack cut her off, "But since I'm a DA, I'll be allowed. Thank you. Anything else I should know right now?"

"She's gonna be really groggy once she is awake. Now, I don't know about you but I wouldn't want my boss to see me like that. Get my point?"

Jack grinned. Serena would never forgive him if he saw her like that. "Yeah, I see your point." He went into the room which was lit with a dim lamp in one corner. The bed was covered in a pink bedspread. Under it lay Serena, looking paler then she ever had even in mid winter. She was hooked up to an IV and a grey machine that monitered her heartbeat as well as another machine Jack didn't recogonize. He assumed it was for the pain when she woke up.

He took a seat in the purple covered chair to the right of her bed, away from the machines and IV tube, and leaned his head back against the chair. Mercifully, this hospital had been smart enough to choose high backed chairs for the patients' rooms. It had been a long day and an even longer night and soon Jack dozed off.

Briscoe and Green had gone back to the Southerlyn crime scene with CSU to check out the differences and similarities of the two crimes. "I hate overtime." Green said. "Not the money part, the working all night part."

"You know as well as I do that if it hadn't been an ADA that had been hit, we wouldn't be out here." Briscoe replied.

"All too true, man, all too true."

"Hey, look over here!" A young CSI called out suddenly. "Here's two casings. I don't think we found any casings at the other scene, did we?"

Another CSI answered him, "Nope. Bag'em, Chris. We'll test them back at the lab."

"With any luck those casings will match another crime." Green commented.

"Here's a couple of theorys for you, A. the killer is already making mistakes or B. the casings were planted." Briscoe said. "I'm going to go with B, at least for now."

"Going with A, I don't think this is his second murder, I think there's been others possibly not in the city so we didn't hear of them. Killers only get sloppy when they think they can't be caught." Green explained, thoughtfully.

"Didn't Southerlyn say something to the EMTs?" Briscoe asked.

"Yeah, something about seeing someone run away." Green remembered.

"I'm going to call the hospital, see if she's awake yet and ready for questioning." Briscoe pulled out his cell phone and began dialing.

"All right, Mr. Simeon. Here at last is your lawyer. This is Whitney Mayes. She'll be your lawyer until this whole thing is over." van Buren brought the young lawyer into the interrogation room to meet Peter.

"Thanks a whole lot." Sleeping in a police station hadn't improved the teenager's attitude one bit.

"All right, well, I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted, then I'll come back in about an hour for the interrogation, okay?"

"That'll be great, thank you." Whitney Mayes answered.

"So? What am I suppose to do now?" Peter sat up a little straighter now that they had brought him an actual lawyer.

"Tell me what you saw. Did you see anyone running away from the victim, a Miss East I believe the name was?"

"Well, uh, yeah."

"So what would have been so hard about telling the Lt. van Buren or the detectives Briscoe and Green about this?" Whitney really couldn't believed she'd been pulled out of bed even before the crack of dawn to talk to some snotty teenager.

"I was afraid to. I didn't want them to think I had done it."

"Well, by refusing to give your statement you only placed yourself under suspection."

"I did?" Peter asked, incredulous. "But I thought, but, but, that's not fair!"

"You did the right thing in asking for a lawyer if you felt a little intimated and scared you might be thought of as guilty. But by asking for a lawyer you also made it look and sound like you are guilty. Now I need you to tell me _exactly_ what you saw and don't leave anything out."

Yippee! I got reviews! OK, that's out of my system now. Next up is what Peter Simeon really saw and Serena wakes up. Please read and reviews, all reviews are welcome. And to answer to anyone who might ask, I am not going to kill Serena off at all in this story (or in any other story I write). There is a reason why she was chosen as a victim which will probably be revealed later. Sadie


	3. Chapter III

Title: When the Rain Falls

Author: Sadie

Summary: A woman is dead and there are no suspects. Then one of their own is gunned down as well.

A/N: This is my first L&O story. I don't know the characters real well because I can't find a decent L&O website (altho I did find one, it just hasnt been updated since May) and the show doesn't describe their personal lives much.

Also, I've never been to New York so the street names and/or the names of places (i.e. the hospital) might not make sense. And despite what the show does, I don't intend to use their last names first except in the case of the police, it just makes more sense that way. I only just learned Eames' first name (Alexandra, but usually Alex, for those of you who don't know either) on L&O CI because of this practice. I'm not a lawyer nor do I work for the police, I don't know how everything works within those departments.

If you haven't read Dead Line, the new L&O novel, read it! It is really good!

Disclaimer: Law & Order is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Network Television. In other words, it doesn't belong to me which I'm sure you already guessed because if it did, I probably would not be writing fanfiction.

Pendray - Thanks! And I only just found out her name through a website I found :)

wander shadow - Thanks! I haven't been watching the show all that long so I thought I might be wandering away from the real characters a bit.

Chapter Three

"No, sir, I'm sorry, but Miss Southerlyn is not awake yet." Joe Manning, a nurse at New York memorial, patiently explained to Briscoe for the fourth time in a hour.

"Well, can you check? I know she can't be questioned as soon as she wakes up, but Miss Southerlyn is an important source of information in this murder investigation. We need whatever she can tell us." Briscoe persisted.

"I understand that, sir. But she did have a rather long surgery so she was under anethesia for quite some time. It'll take even longer for her to sleep it off."

"You didn't answer my question. Can you check on Miss Southerlyn for me?"

Joe sighed and then answered, very patiently, "Yes, sir, I will check for you. Please hold." He put the phone down, pressed the button to keep the line open, and left the nurses station to check on the patient.

On the other end of the line, Briscoe didn't look very happy. "Just how much of that anesthesia did they pump into that woman? She went into surgery at nine, it is now four in the morning, she should have slept it off by now!" he complained to Green.

"Keep in mind that she might have slept it off and now is just sleeping. Most people are still asleep at four in the morning. Here, drink some coffee." Green answered. He had worked with Briscoe for several years and knew that the longer the shift, the more irrational Briscoe became. "It's not like we can go barging in there anyway, she's an ADA, which means she gets special treatment, the whole kid gloves thing."

"It means we'll deal with Jack McCoy and Arthur Branch, that's what it means. They're the ones she works with, the ones that we'll have to work with to get to her."

"Sir? Sir, are you still there?" the nurse's voice squaked from the cell phone Brisoce had laid on the arm rest between the two men.

Briscoe quickly scooped the phone up and answered, "Yeah, yeah, I'm still here. Is she awake?"

"Well, sir, she is still asleep, as well as being heavily sedated for the pain. Even if you came in right now, I couldn't let you in, visiting hours don't start until seven. It would be better if you waited until then anyway, she'd be more alert and not as sedated." Joe was a very patient man, even after dealing with Briscoe during the wee hours of the morning, he didn't sound exasperated.

"Okay. At seven sharp, my partner Ed Green and I will be there. Got that? Don't give Miss Southerlyn anything that'll make her sleep past seven." Briscoe was getting annoyed. The only witness they had was a sullen teenager and the only people who could tell them anything were Charlotte East, who was dead, and Serena Southerlyn, who was too whacked on pain medications to tell them anything.

It was early in the morning, so early the sun was barely peeking over the great buildings in the New York skyline when Ethel Spade walked out of her apartment to catch the subway to go to work. Ten minutes later she was dead, lying in an alleyway a block away from her apartment building.

Briscoe and Green, who had already been working for over fourteen hours on this case, got the call. "Muller Avenue, let's go," Green said, flipping his cell phone shut.

"Another victim like the last two?" Briscoe asked.

"You got it."

"Three victims in less then 24 hours. This guy is really something." Briscoe commented as he drove through the early morning streets of New York, the city that never sleeps.

"Yeah, you're tellin' me." Green settled back against the seat, ready for another hard day, despite the lack of sleep.

The pain. It hurt so much. Serena moaned as she slowly woke up from her medicated sleep.

Her cries also woke Jack, who had slept the night in the chair beside her bed. "Serena? You need a nurse or something?" he asked, as he tried to oriente himself with the strange surroundings.

"Wha, what the heck are you doing here?" Still half asleep, Serena looked confused as she looked around the hospital room, her eyes falling on Jack.

"I was called." Jack answered simply. "They said you had been shot, and were in surgery."

"Oh." Serena shut her eyes again.

Thinking she had gone back to sleep, this time a natural sleep, Jack settled back. A few more hours of sleep sounded good to him,too, and he was too tired to move anywhere anyway.

"Hurts. Have something?" Serena's voice, still heavy with sleep, asked into the dim room.

A bit confused about what she was saying it took Jack a minute to rouse himself enough to understand her. "Yeah, sure." He pressed the nurse call button, rather certain Serena would be sound asleep by the time the nurse arrived, which she was, and Jack gave the nurse a small smile and waved her away so he could go back to sleep,too.

"All right, Mr. Simeon. You've caused us a great deal of trouble tonight and I'd like to get this over with. So let's get on with the interrogation at last." van Buren said, walking into the room about an hour after she dropped off Whitney Mayes.

"Go on, Peter. Tell her what you saw." Whitney encouraged.

"Okay, what I would most like to know is why you waited for hours before you called the police." van Buren started the questions.

"I was scared, lady! I didn't do it, all right!" Peter answered, indignantly.

"All right, all right, calm it down. We'll go back to that. Did you see Miss East being shot?"

"No. I heard the gunshots. Thought it was someone's car backfiring. Then I saw this guy, about 6'3 or so, running really fast."

"Okay, that's good." van Buren wrote it down. "Can you tell me anything else about this 6'3 guy? What was he wearing, did he run with a limp, anything like that?"

"A denim jacket. I remember it because it was black, with brown sleeves. Never saw one like that before." Peter continued.

"That's great. Anything else?"

"Not about the guy."

"All right. What else did you see?" van Buren was running out of patience for this kid.

"Go on, Peter." Whitney encouraged him again.

"After the guy ran away, another guy came over and dragged whatever her name is into the alley." Peter answered quietly.

"Really? Well, Peter, I'd like it if you'd stay here for a little while longer because we're going to have more questions for you but if you'd like you could go into the lobby. They've got vending machines and things like that there." van Buren wanted to keep this kid under police watch as long as possible.

"I think that's a good idea, Peter. You're the only witness in this investigation and that's important." Whitney told him.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." A night without any sleep hadn't improved his behavior any.

"Ms Mayes, I'd like to speak to you privately, if I may." van Buren turned her attention to the young lawyer.

"Sure." Whitney replied.

van Buren beckoned her into the hallway, where they could still keep an eye on Peter but talk privately. "That kid knows more then he is telling. I think he is protecting someone." she stated plainly.

Whitney sighed. "I think he is,too. But I can't make him tell me anything. You know that as well as I do."

"All too true but I've been notified that Miss Southerlyn is awake and ready for questioning. Maybe she can tell us something we can use to get the truth out of him."

"Let's go for it!" van Buren had to admire the young woman's enthusiam for her job.

Briscoe and Green arrived at the hospital nearly two hours after seven, which annoyed Briscoe. It did, however, make Joe Manning grin when he realized who they were and what time it was. "Detectives, good morning," he said with a huge grin on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, good morning to you,too. What room is Miss Southerlyn in?" Briscoe snapped. Green suppressed a smile, no sleep did not a happier Briscoe make. It was going to be a joy working with him today.

The two walked briskly down the hall toward Serena's room, eager to get answers to the questions they had wanted answers to for hours. They wanted to get the perp before yet another victim was murdered. So far, only one person had survived the killing spree, and that was Serena.

"Let's hope she actually remembers something." Green remarked.

"She's an _attorney_, she has spent her whole dang blasted career remembering things! Of course she'll remember something." Briscoe was in no mood whatsoever to be reckoned with. He only hoped he was right.

"All right. I'm going to be your attorney, okay, Serena?" Jack told her.

"uhuh," she replied, too whacked on pain meds to notice that her boss was seeing her in nightclothes.

"She'd probably agree to anything right now_,_" Jack thought. He knew the detectives were coming to question Serena and had tried to explain it to her but he doubted she really understood.

A rapid knockknockknock sounded from the heavy door. Jack got up from the chair, in which he had been sitting all night, to answer it.

"Detectives Briscoe and Green, may we come in?" Briscoe didn't actually wait for an answer and came in anyway.

"Detectives, I really feel it would be better if you waited til later. Serena isn't ready for questions." Jack tried to convince them otherwise.

"We were told she could be questioned now," Briscoe replied, moving toward the chair Jack had vacanted moments before.

"Truthfully, McCoy, we can't wait til later. There's been another victim, and Miss Southerlyn is, more or less, the only person who can tell us anything before there is a fourth victim." Green stood by the door.

Jack sighed. Serena would never forgive him for this, once she realized what had happened anyway. "Ten minutes, no more. Then you'll come back later. She really can't handle more then that." he reluctanctly said.

"That'll be fine. That's all we need for now." Green answered.

Next up is Serena's own interrogation. I don't mean to make her out as a weakling but I would think, after being shot twice, the pain would be immense, thus a person would probably be whacked on pain meds for a while. Please read and review! Sadie


	4. Chapter IV

Title: When the Rain Falls  
  
Author: Sadie  
  
Summary: A woman is dead and there are no suspects. Then one of their own is gunned down as well.  
  
A/N: This is my first L&O story. I don't know the characters real well because I can't find a decent L&O website (altho I did find one, it just hasnt been updated since May) and the show doesn't describe their personal lives much.  
  
Also, I've never been to New York so the street names and/or the names of places (i.e. the hospital) might not make sense. And despite what the show does, I don't intend to use their last names first except in the case of the police, it just makes more sense that way. I only just learned Eames' first name (Alexandra, but usually Alex, for those of you who don't know either) on L&O CI because of this practice. I'm not a lawyer nor do I work for the police, I don't know how everything works within those departments.  
  
If you haven't read Dead Line, the new L&O novel, read it! It is really good!  
  
Disclaimer: Law & Order is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Network Television. In other words, it doesn't belong to me which I'm sure you already guessed because if it did, I probably would not be writing fanfiction.  
  
A/N- Sorry for the long delay between chapters. I live in an area affected by Hurricane Charley and didn't have internet access until yesterday. I have actually been writing this chapter somewhat using a notebook instead of a computer as I didn't have one! So I'm typing it up and posting it now. Hope y'all like it!  
I am not a doctor, lawyer or detective. What I know about medical and law procedures come from tv shows, so if you spot a mistake, it's their fault! No, really, I could actually look something up myself :) and I do sometimes.

lynn- I bought my copy at Walmart, I believe Barnes and Noble probably has it as well.  
Wandering shadow- thanks for the comments, it really is nice of you to review every chapter! and you'll really like the book (altho by the time i get this posted you'll probably have finished)  
Akari Van Halen- i don't know why, i just thought it was spelled that way, i've seen it both ways.  
Keri- thanks so much! i took your comments into consideration as i wrote Serena's interrogation.  
Stephen Collins Rocks- thanks!  
  
"Okay, Serena. Your attorney here has graciously allowed us ten minutes. With your being an ADA, I don't see why you need an attorney unless you arranged your own shooting as well as the murder of two other women, something I find highly unlikely given your history." Briscoe started.  
Jack rolled his eyes, he started to say something but he bit his tongue when Serena began talking.  
"I didn't arrange this or the murders. I didn't even know about the others." she sounded so tired and worn out from the surgery, the detectives, especially Green, wished they didn't have to question her so soon after her ordeal. But time was of essence, they didn't know when or if the killer would strike again. Besides, she couldn't be treated any different then any other victim, they all were interrogated as soon as possible after the ordeal.  
"I never thought you did." Briscoe told her, speaking more gently then he had in hours. "However, it is just standard procedure. Now, my partner and I are gonna ask you some questions. We need you to answer then as well as you can. We know it is hard right now but you're the only one who can really give us anything."  
Serena nodded. "I'll do the best I can."  
"Hurry this up please. She'll be of no use to the investigation if you don't let her rest once in a while." Jack interrupted.  
"Do you know if the doctor gave the bullets to the nurse?" Green asked him. "We really need them, to take to the lab, for forensic testing."  
"Yeah, yeah, I think he did." Jack answered.  
"Can you arrange for us to be able to get them?"  
"When the interrogation is over. I'm her attorney, I have to be present for this."  
"Yes, I know that, McCoy." Briscoe told him. "All right, Serena, tell us the best you can the events of last night." he continued on with the interrogation.  
She shut her eyes for a moment, trying to remember through the fog of pain medicine. Then she opened her eyes and slowly, quietly, she began to tell them what had happened barely thirteen hours before.  
"It was about eight or eight fifteen when I left the office."  
"That's right, you were brought into the emergency room at 8:45, admitted into surgery at 9:03." Green said.  
Serena nodded, the time meant nothing as she couldn't remember what time she had been admitted, and continued, "I missed the subway and didn't have any money for a cab, I didn't feel like waiting an hour for the subway so I walked home." she stopped and closed her eyes momentarily, then went on, "I think I was about a block or two away from my apartment when I heard a bang. I dropped my bag and had to stop and pick up the papers that had fallen out. That's when I was shot the first time. It was wasn't more then a minute or so before I was shot the second time." Serena shut her eyes again.  
"Come on, Briscoe. She's exhausted. Come again at a different time." Jack protested.  
"We just need a few more things, all right? Then we'll leave." Green told him.  
Jack grumbled about it but allowed them to continue.  
"We're almost through, Serena. Hang in there for a few more minutes." Briscoe encouraged her.  
Serena nodded and tried to focus on what Briscoe was saying.  
"Can you tell us anything about the shooter? Did he ever speak to you?"  
"No. I never saw him except when he was running away."  
"All right. That's good. What did you notice about him?"  
"A jacket, it was two toned. I couldn't make out the colors." Serena was obviously getting more and more tired as she spoke even more quietly and slowly then she had just minutes before.  
"That's good. Great. We'll let you rest now." Briscoe and Green made a quick exit out of the small hospital room.  
  
"Well, both an ADA and a punk agree about a two tone jacket." Green remarked as they headed toward the exit.  
"Serena couldn't tell us the colors." Briscoe reminded him.  
"True. But, given the history she has had as an ADA, she's less likely to lie as she has a lot to lose if she tries to protect someone."  
Briscoe just gave him a Look. "She can lie just as easily. However, you're probably right. I really don't think Serena is lying."  
"I still think that Simeon kid is hiding something, maybe even protecting someone."  
"First on the scene is always a suspect." Briscoe replied.  
"Especially when you can't get a word out of them." Green was quick to add.  
  
Now, Mr. Simeon, we've received an update on the second victim. She remains in critical condition but was able to answer a few questions. Van Buren told the teen. Despite the efforts to keep Serena's condition out of the press, they had not been too successful. The press still hadn't got ahold of Serena's name or occuption as an ADA though, which was a good thing.  
Van Buren looked at Peter carefully. He showed no signs of fear or any real emotion whatsoever. "Either this kid is a really good actor or he really doesn't know anything," she thought silently to herself, watching him.  
Peter shifted in his seat, uneasy at Van Buren's scrutiny, "I've told you what I know, can't I go home?"  
"In a bit. We need to be able to question the victim a little more before we can let you go." she explained to him.  
"Do you have anything to actually hold him?" Whitney spoke up. "Because if you don't, he can leave, he's only here voluntarily."  
Peter's mouth hung open a bit. This whole police investigation thing was all new to him, and to actually have someone who had been, just a few hours before, a complete stranger to him, stand up for his rights to this detectives who thought she was a bigshot was just flabbergasting to him.  
"We don't have anything tying him to the crimes except he is the only witness to the first murder. As it stands Mr. Simeon here is one of two witnesses we have to three crimes, two of which are murders, and the only witness who can really give us anything. If he cooperates we have a better chance of getting the perp off the streets a lot faster then if he doesn't cooperate with us." Van Buren patiently explained. "I understand that. And I believe Peter does as well, don't you, Peter?" Whitney said.  
"Yeah, of course." Peter kicked the table.  
"But the point remains he is still here of his own violation. If you don't have anything to hold him with, then he can leave if he chooses." Whitney pressed.  
"Yes. He can leave but we'll still need to be able to contact him if anything new comes up we need to ask him about." Van Buren answered, wearily. The Simeon kid was really getting on her nerves.  
"Okay. I can arrange that." Whitney gathered up her notes, stuffed them in a purple backpack, and prepared to leave.  
  
"All right. The only thing we have about the shooter is that he wears a two tone jacket." Green said. He and Van Buren were in her office, waiting for Briscoe so they could hold a quick meeting to compare notes.  
"Black denim, with brown sleeves. That's what Peter said. Serena couldn't confirm the colors." Van Buren answered, shuffling through the notes.  
"Okay, thank you very much." Briscoe came into the office, holding a cell phone to his ear. He flipped it shut and stuck in back in his pocket. "Well, Serena is able to talk longer and I persuaded McCoy to let me talk to her on the phone."  
"Great, that's great, isn't it?" Van Buren asked. "Was she able to give you anything new?"  
"Yeah, she was. Not a whole lot but some." Briscoe answered. "She isn't sure but she thinks the perp was about six three, with a two tone jacket and a cap, she wasn't able to see what kind of cap."  
"Did she see the face at all?" Green asked, writing down the description.  
"Nope. She did, however, ask if we had run ballistics yet because she thinks she saw two guns on the perp, one in each hand. Small guns, like pistols."  
"There were two bullets in each vic, right? One in the left shoulder and the other in the upper chest, except in Serena's case. How did it miss her?" Green asked.  
"She says she was standing pretty close to the street when it occurred and tried to crawl to the building for help. In the minute between shots, she managed to move far enough away the bullet only hit her upper arm. Serena is one heck of a lucky woman." Briscoe commented.  
"That's for sure." Van Buren agreed, nodding her head.  
"Let's go check on ballistics, see if Serena was right." Green suggested.  
"All right. Call me when you get something." Van Buren told them as they left for the lab.  
  
This chapter was, for some reason, a lot harder to write then the others. Maybe it's because I'm not writing on my computer, I don't know. Anyway, I have a question for y'all. Do any of you think I'm dragging the story too much? I'm going to answer the ballistic questions in the next chapter, and I have some ideas about what is going to go on with the investigation, but I'm not sure how long it's going to end up. I do know that I really want to try to finish this story, I've never gotten so many reviews on a story before! Thanks! Sadie


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